


The Ghost

by Zonkcat



Category: Brach Smyers - Fandom, Shinedown - Fandom, brent smith - Fandom, zach myers - Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-21
Updated: 2015-11-21
Packaged: 2018-05-02 16:15:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5254898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zonkcat/pseuds/Zonkcat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zach's disappearance didn't go as well as he'd hoped....</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Ghost

The air was fresh and crisp, a slight chill to it. Zach wrapped his jacket around himself tighter as a gust of wind whipped past. Fall leaves fell all around him, crunching under his shoes and brushing past his face. The feeling was refreshing to him.

Zach walked the streets of Memphis for the first time in three years. It comforted him; Memphis had seemed to welcome him back with open arms. Of course, he hadn’t talked to anyone yet. He was still trying to figure out how to do that. He didn’t even dare go back to his house yet; the hotel room he was currently staying in would work just fine for now. 

Deep down, Zach knew whom he wanted to call first. But it didn’t feel right. The person whom was most important to him would also be the most pissed at him. Faking your death and then hiding for three years after didn’t really go over well. 

Zach pulled open the door to the Verizon store. His first order of business was getting a phone that actually functioned. His old iPhone wouldn’t even turn on anymore. Not that he’d needed it recently; living under a rock to convince the world you’d died kind of meant no social media. Or interaction with friends. 

It was no one person’s fault, in the end. It had been merely an accident. But the pain that Zach would see on Brent’s face every day was too unbearable. Zach didn’t know if he’d make it out alive, and Brent needed to focus on his own life. 

The friendly worker took Zach’s old phone as he explained that he needed a new one. She turned it over a few times, in awe. 

“You know, for such an old version, it’s in really good shape.”

“Yeah,” Zach said as he remembered keeping it stuffed in his backpack for the past three years, “except it won’t turn on anymore. Will you be able to get any of my data off of it?”

The lady nodded. “Shouldn’t be a problem. Let me take this to someone in the back. Why don’t you take a look at some newer models while you wait?”

Zach nodded as she walked off. He went to the wall that had a line of phones on it. As he looked at the new iPhones, he couldn’t help but feel weird, being a part of society again. He’d spent the last few years hiding.

Standing there, Zach flashed back to that night, a night he would always remember so vividly. The band was playing a show, and everything was going great. Zach was getting really excited during the solo for I’ll Follow You, and jumped off the platform.

That’s when it all went bad. 

Where he’d landed on the stage caved underneath him. The wood splintered and Zach fell through. Unfortunately, where he’d landed was right next to his amp set up, so the stage buckled under them as well and the amps fell on top of Zach. The next thing he remembered was waking up in the hospital three days later, every part of his body aching. He’d been told he’d already undergone two different surgeries, and would probably have a few more. 

Brent had been the most devastated. For some reason, he blamed himself. He visited Zach every day, even though he’d had his own life to tend to. But Zach wasn’t getting better at the time. In fact, he was getting worse. His body wasn’t working right and things weren’t healing like they should. Zach was becoming convinced that he wasn’t going to make it, as was Brent.

So when the hospital suggested transferring him to another hospital where he could get better care, Zach agreed to try it. On one condition. No one else knew. He could feel himself dancing with death, and he didn’t want his best friend around him if death took the lead. His intention had been to get the extra care and contact his friend when he was well enough to where death wasn’t a lingering possibility.

But recovery took longer than expected. Doctors, on a daily basis, told Zach that the fall should’ve killed him instantly. Even though he’d made it out of there with his life, getting back on track wasn’t easy. It took six months for the doctors to be confident enough in Zach to not concern themselves with him dying anymore. 

Zach, excited at the time, tried to call Brent, but his calls wouldn’t go through. He soon found out that the band had thought he’d actually died. They’d had a funeral and everything, and even found a new guitarist. So Zach decided to stay on the down low and let his band get on with their lives.

Until about a month ago, when Zach saw an article saying Shinedown had broken up. The thought terrified him; his band had broken up because he wasn’t there. So he felt like it was time to stop playing dead and come back.

The lady came back out with his old phone and a SIM card. She explained it had all his data on it and that he could just pop it into his new phone. He picked out the newest model of the iPhone and paid in cash. 

As he walked out of the store, his new phone came to life in his hands. All of his old contacts popped up and he tried to decide who to call first. After a lot of contemplation, he picked Barry’s number.

The phone rang four times before someone answered. “Hello?” 

A shiver went through Zach as he heard his drummer’s voice. It’d been a long time. 

Zach hesitated for a moment before replying. “Barry?”

The silence that followed was so long that for a second Zach thought Barry had hung up on him. But a minute later the drummer finally responded.

“Zach?” He squeaked.

Zach nodded, even though Barry couldn’t see him. “Yeah… it’s me.”

“No it’s not. You’re messing with me. Who are you?” Barry’s tone turned furious. “Zach’s dead.”

“No… I’m not.” Zach replied quietly. He pushed yellow leaves with his shoes as he walked. “I just… it’s kind of hard to explain. I need to see you all, and I can tell you about it. Please don’t be mad.”

“Zach…” Barry’s voice trailed off. “Zach, why are you back? Why now? It’s been three years since the accident.”

“Because… Because Shinedown broke up. Shinedown can’t break up. I came back to fix it. I should’ve come back sooner… but I didn’t know how. But now it can just be the four of us again. You, me, Eric and Brent.” Zach stuttered the words out.

Another long silence filled the space. “You don’t know do you?” Barry slowly said. 

Zach’s heart lurched. “Know what?” The tone in Barry’s voice wasn’t a good one.

“Zach…” A heavy sigh sounded. “Brent’s dead. For real.”

Zach stopped. He couldn’t have heard Barry right. “What?”

Barry inhaled slowly. “Zach, I’m sorry. Brent’s… Brent died two months ago. That’s why Shinedown broke up. He was found in his house… too many pills…”

Suddenly Zach couldn’t stand anymore. He stumbled over to an empty bench and collapsed onto it. “Suicide?”

“Yeah.” Barry replied. “He was never the same after you… and our new guitarist was an asshole…”

“It’s my fault.” Zach croaked. Tears welled up in his eyes. Zach had been so stupid. “I thought… I didn’t want him there if I actually… died. I thought… keeping him away while I got better would be better for him.”

“Well, Zach, you left without telling anyone to God knows where. You were half dead when you did so. What else did you think would happen?” Barry snapped.

“I didn’t think it’d take six months for them to stabilize me. I thought it’d be a few weeks and then I could…” Zach couldn’t finish his sentence.

Another sigh sounded from the other end of the phone. “Zach, hey. It’s okay. It wasn’t your fault. Look, are you back in Memphis? Let me catch a flight out there first thing tomorrow morning. I’ll call Eric. We’ll meet up and talk and work this out. Okay?”

Words wouldn’t work, so Zach just nodded. Then he remembered he was on the phone, so he squeaked out a “sure”. Barry comforted him once more then hung up to call Eric. 

The world seemed to slow down. Zach had done what he thought was best for his singer. He’d stay away until death wasn’t an imminent threat anymore, then come back. He hadn’t been able to bear the despair in Brent’s eyes, the sadness he saw every time Brent looked at him. Why on earth had he thought leaving would be a good choice?

Zach barely made it through the threshold of his empty Memphis house before he broke down once again. But this time he was angry too. He pushed the table over, shattering a vase and a few framed pictures. He collapsed to his knees. How could he have let this happen? His singer had wanted nothing but to watch Zach get better and get back on his feet and back to Shinedown. But instead, Zach had been a coward. He’d ran and hid from the pain, and ultimately it backfired on him.

Everything inside of Zach was begging him for an escape from the pain. In his three year absence, Zach had found a wonderful escape in the world of alcohol. Whenever he felt agony of being gone, a few beers would do the trick. 

As Zach started to get up to go buy a six pack, he spotted a picture on the ground. It was one of him and Brent. Possibly his favorite. Brent had his arm around Zach, singing If You Only Knew, and Zach was planting a kiss on his singer’s cheek whilst playing guitar. Both of them were smiling. Zach couldn’t help but smile at the memory, at the image. He suddenly felt a huge rush of adrenaline as he remembered what it felt like to do live shows. Big ones, small ones, rain, sun or snow. Nothing could stop Shinedown.

Even death. 

Suddenly, something made sense to Zach. He had hid for three years. He had drowned himself in alcohol to escape pain for three years. No more hiding, no more running.

Zach clambered his way up to his guitar room, grabbed an acoustic, and spent the rest of the night writing songs. 

When Eric and Barry pounded on his door the next morning, he had four songs, a plan and the ghost of the greatest singer Zach could’ve ever asked for.


End file.
